Enlightenment Thinker Comparison Essay

Both the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening are well known throughout history. The Great Awakening had huge consequences that helped shaped America. Although the Enlightenment did contribute to the Great Awakening, it had minor consequences. Without the Great Awakening some major events and changes would’ve never happened. The American Revolution, different perspectives on religion, divisions between colonist, new schools showing up, and more were all outcomes of it.

John Locke and Voltaire had similar views on several important sectors of “The Enlightenment”; especially those concerning human rights, education and religion. Both Voltaire and Locke believed that freedom of thought was the key to a brighter future, and they agreed that basic rights should have been in place from birth as freedom was a necessity not an “earned privilege”.

Influential figures of the late 18th century such as John Locke and Thomas Paine cemented Enlightenment ideas that would ultimately shape the founding of the United States of America. The enlightenment ideas were crafted around motifs such as liberation, challenges to politics, social mobility, and oppression. John Locke and Thomas Paine expressed their concerns around those ideas towards how much power the government should have, as well as calling for a reorganization of a new republic. These concerns were considered revolutionary at the time and therefore began to influence the building blocks of America and it’s identity. The rise of Enlightenment ideas in the late 18th century paved the path for the founding of the United States by laying the foundation for liberated thinking, the concept of consent in government, and a national identity based on freedom for man.

The Enlightenment era was a new intellectual movement that stressed reason and thought and the power of individuals to solve problems. Even though different philosophers approached their goal differently, they achieved it none the less. They all approached their goal differently due to their different upbringings, their different backgrounds, and most importantly their different environments. A few among the many enlightened thinkers were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Baron Do Montesquieu, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. While some of their idea’s are not used in modern society, they were all instrumental to the modern society we live in today.

During the Enlightenment, revolutionary thinkers called philosophes brought about new ideas as to how to better understand and improve their society. They were all modern thinkers and had the best interests of society in mind. Although each philosoph had his or her own ideas, they all centered around one main theme: equality and human freedom.

In many works of literature, authors express their viewpoints on society and times in which they live. In the essay “Self Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau, the authors speak out against conformity and materialism in society. Both were romanticism authors during the 1800s. They focused on simplicity and individuality. Both writings can advise teenagers today on the importance of non-conformity and the value of rejecting materialism.

This paper is about John Locke who was a philosopher in the 17-century. He was an Englishmen and his ideas formed the basic concept for the government and laws, which later allowed colonist to justify revolution. I agree with what Locke is saying because everybody should be able to have their own freedom and still respect the freedom of other people. John said, “Individuals have rights, and their duties are defined in terms of protecting their own rights and respecting those of others”. This paper will present to you information about his enlightenment, personal information, and how we as people feel about his decisions.

During the Age of Enlightenment there were many philosophers that thought differently when it came to humans and their actions. This all started back in the 17th and 18th century in Europe. One day all the thinkers came together to talk about their different ideas at an enlightenment party. Philosophers with different backgrounds and ideologies were able to unite and discussed the world and mankind. Although all of them had different beliefs, there was one idea that everyone had in common.The main idea shared by these enlightenment thinkers was that individual freedom could improve different aspects of society. John Locke believed individual freedom could improve freedom in government, Voltaire believed individual freedom

The American Revolution, like any historical event, came as a result of a variety of complex influences of the time. The immediate reasons for the break from imperial rule are well understood. As the story goes, the debts incurred from the French and Indian War as well as the ongoing cost of stationing troops in the colonies put a heavy burden on the royal treasury. Thus, Parliament levied a series of taxes on the colonists. When cries for equal representation in Parliament went ignored in England, the colonists underwent a series of boycotts and protests that eventually led to declaring independence and full-on war with the royal crown in 1776. However, what occurred was nowhere near this simple. The question remains: how could the colonists

After reading the passages given throughout the quarter I found the Enlightenment era to be interesting and a very influential time period. It was an era where people pushed the boundaries of critical thinking and began to question things in a scientific manner, whether it was philosophy, art, politics or science the era of enlightenment was one of drastic revolution in intellectual and philosophical ideas . One particular issue or topic that was really prevalent in two of the readings covered , was the topic of society and government, to the extent of what is society and government? do we really need Government, is it essential to the human society or existence? Or is it just a construct to protect us from ourselves? After reading

In the 18th century world, there were two concepts emerging that would later shape very much of the American World as we know it. Without the concepts of the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment, who knows what would have become of not only 18th century America, but even the United States as we know it today.

The Enlightenment period in the eighteenth century is a significant time in history as it became the standard structure for democratic society. However, Enlightenment did not address slavery yet enlightened government rule leading to the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution. Both milestones in history are significant game changers in history.

a. It gives the idea, thought of people who are living in the society at that time. It’s more relevant than assuming the life condition base on dry facts.